Q: My apartment’s just as swank as the one in The Thomas Crown Affair. How can I give it a run at screen immortality?
A: Advertising your apartment or home as a film or television location can be a great way to finance those wild sprees at the D&D Building – owners typically earn $2,500 to $5,000 per day of filming. It’s also free, and much easier than you’d think – just play shutterbug for a day (professional pics are unnecessary) and bring the results to the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (212-489-6710). Location scouts and production companies regularly rifle through the office’s files for apartments like TriBeCa co-ops and Park Slope studios, most of which end up in anything from foreign flicks to AT&T commercials. There are also dozens of location services that supply clients like Polaroid and La-Z-Boy with perfectly appointed kitchens and impossibly sunny front yards. Michael Stricks, location manager for Analyze This and Object of My Affection, likes Robbins Locations Inc. (212-633-6440). Robbins is constantly calling clients about the newest hot spot she’s added to her 1,500-plus site backlist. Don’t let the gruff attitude at Flash Foto (212-255-3939) scare you away – it’s estimated that more than 80 percent of the city’s location scouts frequent this spot. Locations advertised in the unassuming shop have appeared in apartment-porn flicks like A Perfect Murder as well as the more down-home Summer of Sam. Which leads to perhaps the most useful tip: Scouts are hunting for regular-Joe apartments and homes, too. Your humble abode doesn’t have to look like a spread in Architectural Digest to have a shot at celebrity.